Furniture glide



1968 R. F. LE VASSEUR 3,366,991

FURNITURE GLIDE Original Filed June 30, 1965 'I 4 INVENTOR ROBERT F LE VASSEUR ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,366,991 FURNITURE GLIDE Robert F. Le Vasseur, Woodbury, Conn., assignor to The Ferrule Manufacturing Corporation, Waterbury, Conn., a corporation of Connecticut Continuation of application Ser. No. 468,414, June 30, 1%5. This application Apr. 28, 1967, Ser. No. 634,779 14 Claims. (Cl. 16-42) ABSTRACT OF THE DliSCLGSURE In an adjustable furniture glide an enlarged head of a shank member has a rough surface contour and surface irregularities which tend to produce complementary deformations in the material of a resilient shoe receiving it so that the shoe resists rotation relative to the shank and tends to remain in angular adjustment relative thereto. A cap overlying the shoe prevents separation of the shank member and the shoe.

This application is a continuation of my co-pending application Ser. No. 468,414, filed June 30, 1965, and hearing the title Furniture Glide which is a contmuationin-part of my copending application Ser. No. 375,210, now abandoned, filed June 15, 1964, and also bearing the title, Furniture Glide.

This invention relates to furniture glides, and deals more particularly with a glide which is angularly adjustable relative to the leg or other furniture part to which it is attached.

The general object of this invention is to provide a furniture glide which is easily manufactured at low cost and which is nevertheless sturdy and rugged and capable of a long service life.

Another object of this invention is to provide a furniture glide having a shoe or floor engaging part which is readily adjustable both angularly and axially of the leg to which it is attached.

A further object of the invention is to provide a furniture glide having a threaded axially adjustable shank and including a shoe associated with said shank readily angularly adjustable relative thereto and resistive to rotation therebetween to permit axial adjustment of said shank by rotation of said shoe.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a furniture glide for chairs and like articles subjected to frequent movement having a shoe or floor engaging part which is readily angularly adjustable relative to the leg to which it is attached and which shoe tends to remain in angular adjustment when disengaged from the floor.

A more particular object of this invention is to provide a furniture glide which is attractive in appearance and which includes a threaded shank for attaching the glide to the bottom of a furniture leg, the threaded shank being, if desired, a conventional round headed screw.

Another object of this invention is to provide a furniture glide consisting of a shoe made of a slightly resilient material, a threaded shank having an enlarged head snap fitted into an opening in the shoe, and a metallic cap covering the shoe and so designed as to strongly resist separation of the shank from the shoe.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description and from the drawing forming a part hereof.

The drawing shows a preferred embodiment of the invention and such embodiment will be described, but it will be understood that various changes may be made from the construction disclosed, and that the drawing and description are not to be construed as defining or limiting the scope of the invention, the claims forming a part of this specification being relied upon for that purpose.

Of the drawing:

FIG. 1 is an elevational View of a furniture glide embodying the present invention, this view showing the glide with the shank thereof moved to a position of maximum angularity relative to the shoe.

FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional View taken through the furniture glide of FIG. 1, but showing the shank member in an upright position relative to the shoe.

FIG. 3 is an exploded sectional view showing the three parts of the glide of FIG. 1 in their initial unassembied state.

FIG. 4 is a vertical sectional view taken through a furniture glide comprising another embodiment of this invention.

FIG. 5 is a vertical sectional view taken through a furrnture glide comprising still another embodiment of this invention.

1G. 6 is an enlarged fragmentary elevational view of the shank member of FIG. 5.

FIG. 7 is an enlarged bottom view of the shank member of FIG. 5.

Turning now to the drawing and first considering FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 a furniture glide embodying the present inventron is illustrated generally at 16 and is shown in assoelation with a support 12. attached to the bottom of a tubular furniture part 14 which may be taken to be a chair leg. In the illustrated case, the support 12 comprises a ferrule 16 which is press-fitted or otherwise fastened to the chair leg 14 and which includes an apertured, and slightly recessed, end Wall 18. Passing through the aperture in the end wall 13 is a T-nut 20 which has its upper end portion staked over against a washer 22 to securely fasten the nut to the ferrule.

In accordance with the invention, the furniture glide 10 comprises a shoe 24 provided with a socket opening 26, a shank member 28 having an enlarged head 30 positioned in the socket opening 26, and a cap 32 preferably made from thin metal and including a cylindrical portion 34 which extends into the socket opening 26, the cylindrical portion 34 surrounding the shank member 28 and defining an opening smaller than the enlarged head 30. The shoe 24 is preferably made from a material having a slight resilience, this permitting the socket opening 26 to be designed to provide a snap-fit engagement between the shoe 24 and the enlarged shank head 30. For example, the shoe may be made from various different plastics such as polyethylene. More particularly, to provide for a snap-fit engagement between the shoe 24 and the head 30, the socket opening 26 may be made with a generally spherical shape and of an extent greater than a hemisphere and less than a full sphere so as to define a month which is of a smaller diameter than the maximum diameter of the opening. The enlarged head 30 is accordingly preferably of a generally spherical shape and has a radius of curvature generally equal to that of the socket opening 26. The extent of the spherically curved surface on the head 30 is, however, considerably less than the extent of the surface of the socket opening, and preferably it is generally semi-spherical in shape and connected with the shank by a radial shoulder 29. When the shoe 24 is made of a plastic such as polyethylene, and when the head 30 and socket opening 26 are of substantially the relative sizes and shapes shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the head 30 may be readily press-fitted with a snap action into the socket opening 26 prior to the assembly of the cap 32 with the shoe 24.

It should be noted that one of the features of the glide It is that a generally conventional round headed screw, such as a machine screw or stove bolt, may be used for 3 the shank member. 28. When this is done, the enlarged head 30 has a spherically curved surface which is of substantially smaller extent than the surface. of the socket opening 26 and which includes a transverse slot 33, as will be evident from FIG. 2. It will also be noted from FIG. 2, that in the event of large forces tending to separate the shank member 28 from the shoe 24 the downwardly extending cylindrical portion 34 of the cap will. be engaged by the shoulder 31 of the enlarged head 30 to resist such separation. It should also be noted that the shape of the cylindrical portion renders it relatively strong with regard to forces imposed thereon by the head 30, especially in comparison to the situation which Would prevail if the cap 32 were merely apertured in its upper portion and included no cylindrical portion such as the portion 34. By using the cylindrical portion 34, therefore, great strength with regard to resistance of separation of the shank member from the shoe is obtained even when relatively thin metal is used for the cap.

As shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, the shank member 28 includes a stem having an upper threaded portion 38 which is separated from the head 30 by an intermediate portion 40. The intermediate portion 40 is aligned with the cylindrical portion 34 of the cap 32 and is of a diameter smaller than the major diameter of the threaded portion 38. This permits the shoe to be moved through a greater range of angular adjustment relative to the shank member than would be the case if the threads extended the full length of the shank. .Where the shank member is made from a conventional round-headed screw, the screw may be ground to produce the reduced diameter intermediate portion 40. This reduced diameter portion is not, however, necessary to the broader aspects of this invention and a shank member, such as shown at 28a in FIG. 4, having threads along its full length may be used in place of the shank member 28 if desired.

The shoe 24 and the cap 32 may take various different shapes, but preferably the shoe includes an upper portion and a lower portion, the upper portion at its junction with the lower portion forming a waist defining the maximum transverse dimension of the shoe. Preferably, the upper portion is shaped generally similar to a frustum of a right circular cone and at its junction with the bottom portion defines a waist or corner 36 of maximum diameter. The cap 32 conforms in shape to the upper portion of the shoe 24 and prior to assembly with the shoe 24, as shown in FIG. 3, includes at its lower end a cylindrical flange or skirt 42. This flange 42, as shown in FIG. 2, after assembly of the shank 28 with the shoe 24 is inturned around the corner 36 to securely fasten the cap to the shoe 24.

It will be understood that axial adjustment of the glide relative to an associated leg 14 is obtained by axially rotating the threaded shank member relative to the T- nut or other threaded fastener associated therewith. Preferably, this rotation of the shank is performed by grasping and turning the shoe portion of the glide. It is, therefore, necessary that sufiicient frictional resistance exist between the enlarged head 30 of the shank member and the shoe 24 to assure the transference of an adequate amount of torque from the shoe to the shank member to cause the shank member to be rotated with the shoe and relative to the T-nut 20 or other associated threaded fastener. In the embodiments of FIGS. 1 to 4, this frictional resistance is enhanced by the presence of the slot 33 in the enlarged head 30. That is, the edges of the slot 33 tend to bite or dig into the material of the shoe 24 to create some resistance to the rotation of the shoe 24 relative to the head 30. Where a greater resistance to rotation of the shoe 24 relative to the head 30 is desired, a shank member having a head modified to create greater roughness and therefore greater resistance to relative turning may be employed. The head may be roughened in various different ways and one form of roughened head is shown, for example, in FIGS. 5, 6 and 7.

Referring to FIGS. 5, 6 and 7, these figures show a glide generally similar to that of FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 except for including a shank member 28b having a head 30b which is generally hemi-spherical in shape and which is roughened by the inclusion thereon of a plurality of generally meridially extending ribs 31, 31. These ribs may be formed in various different ways but preferably are formed by a cold-heading operation during the manufacture of the shank member. From FIG. 5, it will be understood that the ribs 31, 31 tend to dig or press into the softer material of the shoe 24 and, therefore, create a relatively high amount of friction between the head 3% and the shoe 24 so as to resist relative rotation between the shoe and the head. Therefore, turning forces applied to the shoe 24 are transferred to the shank 28b to cause the shank to be threaded into its associated T-nut or similar fastener. Also, this roughness of the head 30b tends to cause the shoe 24 to retain the angular position to which it is moved relative to the head 30b so that once the glide is angularly adjusted relative to an associated furniture leg or the like, it will tend to hold such adjustment when disengaged or lifted from the floor.

I claim:

1. A furniture glide comprising a shoe including upper and lower portions and having a socket opening formed in the material thereof, said upper portion at its junction with said lower portion forming at waist defining the maximum transverse dimension of said shoe, a shank member having an enlarged head positioned in said socket opening and directly engageable with the material of said shoe, and a cap overlying said upper portion and surrounding said shank member, said cap having a cylindrical portion which extends into said socket opening and which itself defines an opening smaller than said shank member head, said cylindrical portion having a lower edge upwardly spaced from said shank member head, said cap including a skirt inturned around said waist of said shoe to fasten said cap to said shoe.

2. A furniture glide as defined in claim 1 further characterized by said shank member including a stern and said enlarged head being substantially hemi-spherical and de fining a radial shoulder between it and said stem.

3. A furniture glide as defined in claim 1 further characterized by said shoe being made of a resilient material and being so shaped as to provide a snap-fit engagement between said shoe and said enlarged head of said shank member prior to the assembly of said cap with shoe.

4. A furniture glide as defined in claim 3 further characterized by said socket opening being a generally spherical curvature and being a greater extent than a hemisphere and a less extent than a full sphere so as to define a mouth having a smaller diameter than the maximum diameter of the opening.

5. A furniture glide as defined in claim 4 further characterized by said enlarged head of said shank member having a generally spherically curved surface with a radius of curvature generally equal to that of said socket opening and also of lesser extent than said socket opening.

6. A furniture glide as defined in claim 4 further characterized by said shank member including a shank having a threaded portion remote from said enlarged head and an intermediate portion between said threaded portion and said enlarged head, said intermediate portion being aligned with said cylindrical portion of said cap and having a diameter less than the major diameter of said threaded portion.

7. A furniture glide as defined in claim 4 further characterized by said shank member comprising a conventional round headed screw.

8. A furniture glide as defined in claim 4 further characterized by said enlarged head having a rough surface contour.

9. A furniture glide as defined in claim 5 further characterized by said enlarged head having a plurality of meridial ribs outwardly extending therefrom.

10. A furniture glide comprising a shoe made from a resilient plastic material and having upper and lower portions, said upper portion having generally the shape of a frustum of a right circular cone and at its junction with said bottom portion defining a corner of maximum diameter, said shoe also having an opening in the upper surface thereof with a mouth of a diameter smaller than the maximum diameter of said opening, a shank member having an enlarged head snap-fitted into said opening, and a cap overlying the surface of said upper portion of said shoe, said cap having a cylindrical portion extending into said opening and a lower flange inturned around said corner of said shoe to fasten said cap to said shoe.

11. A furniture glide comprising a shoe made of a resilient material and having a socket opening formed therein of generally spherical curvature and being of greater extent than a hemisphere and less extent than a full sphere so as to define a mouth having a smaller diameter than the maximum diameter of said socket opening, a shank member including a stem and having an enlarged head snap-fitted into said socket opening, said enlarged head being directly engageable with the material of said shoe and having a generally spherically curved surface and a radius of curvature generally equal to that of said socket opening, said surface having a rough contour including irregularities which tend to produce complementary deformations of the resilient material of said shoe to resist rotation of said shoe relative to said head,

and a cap fastened to said shoe and overlying a portion thereof, said cap surrounding said shank member and defining an opening generally adjacent said mouth to prevent deformation of said mouth sufficient to effect separation of said head from said socket opening.

12. A furniture glide as defined in claim 11 wherein said cap opening is generally circular and has a diameter smaller than the diameter of said enlarged head.

13. A furniture glide as defined in claim 11 wherein said irregularities include a plurality of meridial ribs outwardly extending from said surface.

14. A furniture glide as defined in claim 11 wherein said shoe includes upper and lower portions, said upper portion at its junction with said lower portion forming a waist defining the maximum transverse dimension of said shoe and wherein said cap includes a skirt inturned around said waist to fasten said cap to said shoe.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,028,022 1/ 1936 Sieminski 9 2,885,181 5/1959 McCulley et al 16-42 2,933,754 4/1960 Winans 1642 FOREIGN PATENTS 235,293 8/ 1961 Australia.

BOBBY R. GAY, Primary Examiner.

D. L. TROUTMAN, Assistant Examiner. 

